United Nations General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák's Open Letter to Youth

On Monday 20 November 2017, children participating an event to mark World Children’s Day by participating in a symbolic act of a children’s take-over of the General Assembly of the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Accompanying them is the President of the General Asessmbly is Miroslav Lajčák of Slovakia.To mark World Children’s Day on 20 November 2017, UNICEF is bringing together high-profile supporters, influencers and special guests alongside children who represent some of the world’s most vulnerable, to speak out to the international community on issues that matter to them the most at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City. The day marks the anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the mobilization of the first World Children’s Day. Despite tremendous progress over the past decades, according to the latest data 385 million children live in extreme poverty, 264 million children and youth are out of school, and 5.6 million children under the age of five died last year from preventable causes. Singers, songwriters and musicians Chloe x Halle will debut a specially penned track to mark the day at the event in New York. Isabela Moner from Transformers: The Last Knight and Nickelodeon, Logan actress Dafne Keen, Jaden Michael, star of Wonderstruck, Zari, star of the local Afghan version of Sesame Street, and Sherrie Westin, Executive Vice President of Global Impact, Sesame Workshop will all join UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres and 150 children in a take-over of United Nations Headquarters.Karin Schermbrucker

In this op-ed, the president of the United Nations General Assembly, Miroslav Lajčák, explains why the United Nations needs dialogue with youth.

When we think about dialogue, we often think about talking. But the most important part of dialogue is listening. And right now, the United Nations (U.N.) needs to listen to the young people of the world.

You are part of the largest population of young people that our planet has ever seen, so you need to be included in global conversations about the issues that affect us all. That’s why I convened a one-day Youth Dialogue on May 30 in New York City, where hundreds of young people and U.N. member states participated. The goal was to help break down the walls between youth and the United Nations.

We’re not opening the doors just for you. We’re doing this for all of us. Because if we don’t bring you in now, we’re putting our collective future at risk.

As president of the U.N. General Assembly, I don’t believe that you should only be consulted on so-called “youth issues,” like cyberbullying and school athletic programs. In 2015, when the countries of the world agreed on a blueprint for a better future, known as the Sustainable Development Goals, they included specific references to children and youth. But all of the goals in that blueprint, including reducing inequality and taking action on climate change, apply to all young people and cannot be achieved without them.

The U.N.’s relevance depends on youth involvement and not the other way around. Where we have left you out, you are creating your own spaces. The onus is on us to reach out. Throughout my time in this current role, I have held Twitter chats to engage with you directly, without middlemen. I have also held talks at universities and met with young people at the United Nations and on my trips abroad.

There are three areas where I have seen firsthand the power of youth movements: Whether working to end poverty or creating employment opportunities, young people are leading the way on Sustainable Development Goals. For example, Shamoy Hajare, a young woman from Jamaica, has created the Jamaica School for Social Entrepreneurship to train, mentor, and coach young people who wish to work on social and environmental projects.
Another is Young Champions of the Earth, with whom I met in Nairobi in December 2017. This is an inspiring group of young innovators coming up with sustainable solutions for environmental problems. And the Youth Constituency to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, or “YOUNGO,” members I spoke with at climate change meetings in Bonn, Germany, impressed me with their advocacy and knowledge of the issues.

Yet another area where I’ve been impressed by the resilience and advocacy of young people is peacebuilding and conflict prevention. During a recent trip to Colombia, I learned about the indispensable role that young people have played in the peace process there. At the Youth Dialogue, we heard from Leonardo Párraga, the founder of the Bogotart Foundation, which works to prevent conflict through vocational training for youth. He highlighted the importance of dialogue, education, and employment for young people in conflict settings.

Also recently, we welcomed the United Nations’ Youth Peace and Security Progress Study, a new study that shows the positive role of youth in achieving lasting peace. Half of the advisers who contributed to it were young. To me, the most significant aspect of this study was that it debunked many damaging myths about young people as victims or perpetrators of war. Rather, they are working in their communities to foster dialogue and create peace. It’s crucial for us at the U.N. to understand the effects of war and violent extremism on young people and to tackle what has been called the “violence of exclusion.”

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Unfortunately, though, even with so much progress, many of you are still getting left behind when it comes to education and employment. Sure, more of you now have access to education, but we need it to be quality education that equips you to get decent work. The global youth unemployment rate is three times that of adults. Additionally, across the globe there is a high rate of you who are employed but living in poverty. With today’s job market affected by globalization, climate change, the Fourth Industrial Revolution, and migration, it’s becoming tougher for governments to deal with youth unemployment on their own.

Political discourse is another area where youth participation is critical, including in multilateral fora.
Many of you have already been engaging with the United Nations at youth-focused events and through model U.N. conferences. This participation is key to having your positions and views reflected in the work we do.

Despite the various youth conferences and increased attention being paid to youth, our scorecard remains less than ideal. We have seen some progress. The General Assembly, which brings together all member states of the United Nations, has adopted numerous resolutions over decades past, highlighting how important it is for young voices to shape our work on topics ranging from sustaining peace to countering terrorism to protecting the environment. Moving forward, we need to go beyond words on paper and improve our outreach and outcomes. I was proud to host a good conversation between you and today’s leaders on education, employment, prevention of violent extremism, and other challenges at the Youth Dialogue on May 30. We need to work together if we are to build a better world for all of us. So, let’s continue to support each other. Our future depends on it.